The Metamodern rise of Sturgill Simpson could be classified as meteoric, and his dramatic ascent in the last few months is virtually unparalleled in the modern country music world for an independent artist. Amidst the swelling crowds, the high praise, and far flung accolades, let’s look back at Sturgill Simpson, and take a moment to reflect on how he got here.

2004: The Formation of Sunday Valley

Sturgill Simpson forms a 4-piece band called Sunday Valley in his home state of Kentucky. They wear suits and ties to gigs, and drape a Kentucky flag over the bass drum as stage decoration. Sturgill sports a Stratocaster with a backwards neck. They open shows for fellow Kentucky-based band Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers.

2004 to 2009: Sunday Valley, First Move to Nashville, Move to Utah

In 2005, Sturgill Simpson moves from Kentucky to Nashville for the first time. He stays there for about nine months, but has a hard time fitting in. “I really came, more than anything, to find the old timers that were still around, that I could play bluegrass with and try to learn as properly how that should be done as I could,”Sturgill tells NPR.“I didn’t find a lot of similar-minded folks in town: pop-country was really at saturation at that point, and what is now described as the “hip” Nashville scene wasn’t really there yet. You know, any of those bars in East Nashville that are hotspots, that you can walk into on a Friday or Saturday night back then there’d be six people in there.”

Feeling out-of-place, Sturgill decides it’s time to get a real job, and moves out to Utah to work for the railroad. He is 28-years-old at the time, and Sunday Valley is mothballed. In Salt Lake City, he works as a train conductor at a switching facility, helping to operate one of the main train arteries between the East and West Coast. “I really did enjoy it. We were outside,” Sturgill says. He does this for a few years, and then his grandfather gets sick, and he’s forced to move back to Kentucky to help take care of his family. Sturgill ends up getting stuck in Kentucky.

Eventually Sturgill meets his future wife and decides to move back out to Utah to work for the railroad again. However he takes a managerial position and it results in misery. “After about a year and a half of that, I was probably just at the most depressed state I’ve ever been in in my life.”

At this point, Sturgill has not played guitar in over 3 years. But at the urging of his wife, he begins to play again.

2010: Move Back to Nashville & Sunday Valley Revitalized

Afraid that he’s going to turn 40 and will have never seriously tried his hand at doing what he loved, Sturgill Simpson moves back to Nashville with the full support of his wife. They sell everything they can, and pack the rest in a Ford Bronco and head east.

Later in 2010, Sturgill Simpson revitalizes the Sunday Valley name and forms a three piece with Gerald Evans on Bass, and Edgar Purdom III on drums. They play more shows with their old Kentucky friends Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, and record an album To The Wind And On To Heaven. Sunday Valley is a hard-edged, hard-country, fast and raucous band, like Sturgill’s native bluegrass sound but electrified and on speed.

January 2011: Saving Country Music & Pickathon

Saving Country Music posts a review of Sunday Valley‘s To The Wind And On To Heaven after being tipped off about the band by Blake Judd of Judd Films. SCM givs it “Two Guns Up!” and declares, “Sunday Valley is definitely worth your consideration and raising a blip on your radar, because mark my words, I have a feeling that this will not be the last time you will hear about Sturgill Simpson or this band, from me or others.”

During the same week, Saving Country Music is contacted by promoter Zale Schoenborn of the Pickathon Festival in Portland, OR, looking for recommendations for potential performers for the next season. Sunday Valley does not make the list [Editor’s note: because I ‘d never seen them perform live at that point], but Zale reads the Sunday Valley review, and is so enraptured, decides to book Sunday Valley anyway. Buoyed around their Pickathon appearance, Sunday Valley books a West Coast tour. The Pickathon booking is later seen as Sturgill Simpson and Sunday Valley’s big break.

August 2011: Sunday Valley Storms Pickathon in Portland, OR

Sunday Valley and Sturgill Simpson play a spectacular show at Pickathon in front of the influential audience and start creating a national buzz. Pokey LaFarge is in the crowd for one of the band’s sets, urging them on.

“I am here to tell you folks, Sunday Valley’s frontman Sturgill Simpson is a singular talent, one of those one-in-a-million folks who is touched by the country music holy spirit, and has the vigor to fully realize his potential, and assert his solely original perspective on American music without fear … Whatever praise, whatever accolades, whatever sway my good name has, I throw it all behind Sunday Valley and Sturgill Simpson 100%. This man deserves to be playing music for a living, and as long as that is not the case, it is a sin of our country.”

April 2012: Sturgill Simpson Walks Away from Sunday Valley Name

Music Fog releases a video of Sunday Valley in January of 2012 for the song “Life Ain’t Fair & The World Is Mean”. The video goes a long way in spreading Sturgill Simpson and Sunday Valley’s name. The video would be the first we’d hear of the new Sturgill Simpson sound, and becomes one of the last official appearances of Sunday Valley. Sturgill Simpson makes an appearance at SXSW in March of 2012 at XSXSW 5, and no longer has drummer Edgar Purdom III in tow. Then on April 27th, he officially announces:

Welp kids,”¦Lord knows it’s been a long road with a great many tears of joy and sadness and some very hard lessons learned but I know I speak for all four original members of Sunday Valley when I say we gave it everything we had and then some. Out of respect and honor for Billy, Gerald, & Eddie and the sacrifices we all have made for this thing over the years, I could never under any circumstances feel good about continuing my musical journey under the Sunday Valley name.

There are no words I can think of that would possibly express our love and appreciation for you all and your support over the last 8 years”¦it means more than you could ever know. New band, new sound, new album coming very soon”¦as they say, the next chapter is always better, that’s why we turn the page.

June 2013: The Release of High Top Mountain

On June 13th, Sturgill Simpson releases his first solo album High Top Mountain independently through Thirty Tigers. The album earns critical praise from country and roots media, and Sturgill Simpson is no longer a secret of the independent roots world. The New York Times says it’s “full of finely drawn songs both sad and tough.”

Sturgill Simpson told Saving Country Music about the album, “This is a much more honest representation of who I am, at least right now. I have the attention span of a 4-year-old. But I love all music, especially old soul and R&B, and traditional country. And I try to incorporate all those elements. This band is just where I am right now.”

August 2013: Playing the Grand Ole Opry

Sturgill Simpson is signed by the prestigious Paradigm Talent Agency for booking. Soon Simpson is opening shows for Dwight Yoakam and Charlie Robison.

Strugill makes his debut on the most hallowed stage in country music at the Grand Ole Opry on August, 23rd, 2013, as an invite from Marty Stuart. In a statement about the honor Sturgill said in part,

I credit my 82 yr. old Grandfather Dood Fraley more than anyone on Earth for, among many other things, my musical education. He’s the greatest man I’ve ever known”¦Period.

He told me, “That’s it bud..that’s the biggest honor in Country music..that’s what you’ve been working so hard for all these years whether you knew it or not. If you never sing or record another note, you ain’t gotta prove nothing else to nobody after that. Don’t worry about what they’re doing now, just go do it your way and I’ll be right there with ya.”

May 2014: The Release of Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

on May 6th, Sturgill performs on the BBC’s Later … with Jools Holland.

On May 13th, Sturgill Simpson releases his second album, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, and the rout is on. All the touring, accolades, and critical acclaim see the independent country artist debut at at #11 on the Top Country Albums chart, and #59 on the all-genre Billboard 200.

NPR debuts Metamodern Sounds as part of their “First Listen” series, and The New York Times says, “Sturgill Simpson is a top-notch miserablist, from the lyrics that pick at scabs to his defeated vocal tone, leaky even when he’s singing at full power. His second album, “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music” (High Top Mountain), is a triumph of exhaustion, one of the most jolting country albums in recent memory, and one that achieves majesty with just the barest of parts.”

Many other periodicals and websites give the album top critical praise, and his music begins to get the attention of the mainstream country music industry. Sturgill Simpson has arrived.

June 2014: Tour Dates with Zac Brown Announced

Sturgill Simpson is booked to open for Zac Brown on select arena and amphitheater tour dates. It is revealed later that Zac Brown personally requested Sturgill to join the tour last minute.

84 Comments

Hi Bob…I have seen Sturgill at two different shows where he sang and also played lead guitar, one right after his original lead guitarist left, and the other when he was waiting for current guitarist “Little Joe” to be able to come to the U.S. I told him I enjoyed his lead guitar playing and wondered why he did not just play lead himself. He told me that it is easier to concentrate on his singing when he is not playing lead guitar.

Well done. It’s nice to read a summary of events of everything that’s transpired so far. “Meteoric rise,” is right: it has been exciting watching Sturgill’s name spread like kudzu over the past few months. And hopefully, this is just the beginning. I bet he will gain a fair number of new fans with his TV performance tonight.

Speaking of which, anyone wanna take a guess as to what song ol’ Sturg will perform on Letterman’s show later? It’s not too late to place your bets.

I have to say, I like Sturgill’s new stuff a great deal, but I can’t help but miss that ripping electric guitar style he displayed with Sunday Valley. I’ll admit that I’m not a country purist, but full-throttle country guitar playing like that doesn’t come around much, and his new material just doesn’t have the same flair. That said, I quite like “Metamodern Sounds,” and more folks seem to prefer his current style more, so I wish Sturgill all the best. He totally deserves it.

I’m a bit selfish, I want more of both. That Sunday Valley album changed my world when I got it but so have both of his albums since then. I miss him playing that scorching lead, I’ve never heard anything that compares to those songs. Also cool to think that everyone that hasn’t heard of Sunday Valley can still discover it someday.

I have to admit that I have warmed up considerably toward Sturgill. Back in 2012 when everyone was singing the praises of “Life Ain’t Fair and the World is Mean”, I just could not feel the power of the song since I thought it was musically flat. Looking into the rest of his catalog at the time simply reinforced by lukewarm opinion about his sonic style.

With “Metamodern Sounds”, however, Sturgill has taken a sharp turn toward what I would consider emotion-inducing music. I greatly appreciate the fact that he is now using varied melodies in his songs and relying more on smooth acoustic instrumentation instead of electric guitar licks.

Zac – ninebullets.net (an awesome site!!!!) has featured Sunday Valley quite a few times with some mp3s. Do a google search of them + Sunday Valley. They’ve also been in some of the NB podcasts and I edited the audio to extract the SV tracks.

thanks for the info. I checked it out and they had a review up with three mp3 links, but none of them worked. and editing and extracting audio is way out of my league. but thanks again for trying to help. the search continues!

The Sunday Valley album is purposely out-of-print and a purposeful campaign to make it such was undertaken at some point. It may be so the Sturgill can properly re-release it in the future. I don’t know. If I hear anything about the release, I will do my best to let everyone know.

From what I have read and heard Sturgill say over the past year or so, it’s sounds like he no longer has any interest in the Sunday Valley name or their only release. I took as if he wasn’t even proud of that recording and didn’t care much for it. I think it’s one of the best albums I have ever heard and the day I read they split up I couldn’t believe it. I’m glad to see he is still making music though. I hope that Sunday Valley album is released again sometime.

I heard Sturgill say in some interview or somewhere that he still has around 600 copies of To The Wind & On To Heaven at home. I bet there will be a chance to buy them at some point if we make it known they are wanted.

wow, i hadn’t heard that. i actually sent him an email through his website last week asking if he had any information on where i could track this thing down…not holding out much hope for a response, but I thought it was worth a shot.

GregN I almost did a spit-take with my cereal when I saw the byline on that Salon article: Radiohead of country music!!! I realize its a natural human thing to compare one thing to another in an attempt to classify or describe it, and Radiohead is high praise indeed whether I may be a fan or not. It was kind of like reading the NYT review, people who wouldn’t normally take notice of this type of music are listening, thinking, and writing about it because of him. Plus everyone I talk to about it says the music makes them feel, and feel happy. Everybody wins!

David Letterman is from middle America. He’s from Indianapolis, which looks to be about a two hour drive to Louisville. He starts out by saying “Commonwealth of Kentucky, that’s all you have to know.” I didn’t know Kentucky’s official name was the Commonwealth of Kentucky. So it might actually have been regional pride on Dave’s part. And maybe the mountain dew thing wasn’t all that funny, but it might have been his way of saying this is real country music.

I will say I wish that Dave had said Sturgill Simpson’s name at the end of the performance. That would have gone a long way for Sturgill. But nothing about how Dave handled Sturgill seemed out of the ordinary.

An interesting note: the very first post in this timeline I talk about how Sunday Valley draped a Kentucky flag over the bass drum for their first show. Some things never change.

Dave might have a high profile job and paid very well, but he is a pretty down to earth regular guy and he genuinely like country music. Watch the show when Ray Wylie was on Letterman. Or Lukas Nelson. Nobody else on late night supports true country like Dave does.

His reference to Mt. Due is perfect. Bill Monroe sings about Mt. Dew, was that a shot at Kentucky heritage?

Great seeing Sturgill on Letterman last night! It was worth laboring through 55 min of the most unfunniest TV.
I hadn’t watched Letterman (or any late night personality) in 20 years. But, I watched for Willie Nelson 2 months ago, Sturgill last night, and will for Trampled by Turtles tonight!

Metamodern Sounds always sounds a bit flat to me and I just haven’t been able to love it, but he sounded great on Letterman. Really looking forward to seeing him with ZBB, have a feeling the live show will get me totally on board. Here is the link to Letterman last night:

I couldn’t be happier for his success! I believe it was here that I first heard of Sunday Valley, so I reached out to his (at that time) management to try and book them here in Richmond….Sturgill called be back himself and we made arrangements…there was a last minute snafu, so we rescheduled for him to play in January of 2012 at a small bar-restaurant here called Bandito’s….(band I was playing bass in at the time opened) … snowed like a son-of-a-gun that night, but still had an OK crowd. Sturgill, et al, were as nice and professional as anyone could ask and put on one HELL of a show. I’ll probably never get to see him perform in such an intimate setting again….

I’m glad that Sturgill is getting his due and I hope he sees some monetary rewards from it. It takes money to raise a family.

As an aside, I found this blog because of Sturgill. I use youtube to listen to music and if I like a song, I’ll look at the recommendations on the side and add some of them to my playlist to listen to later. It was in this manner that I stumbled upon a Sunday Valley song and I see it’s uploaded by some triggerman saving country music. I think, this is my kind of guy who the F is this and what is pickathon?

Anyways, it’s fun to watch so many people enjoy the same music I do. It’s safe to say that Sturgill has built himself a loyal fanbase.

Appreciate the timeline. I didn’t realize that the Pickathon show was so early in the Sunday Valley days. I was at the afternoon barn show and the way they played, I figured they’d been a combo for years. That show just blistered.

Needless to say, I’ve been a fan since that show. Actually, the review of that show is where I discovered Saving Country Music, after Zale mentioned it. Been a faithful reader since then as well.

I try not to be opinionated but I just don’t understand how, especially in the current state of country music, fans of traditional country find a way to complain about Sturgill’s music. It’s like if you were broke and someone gave you a million dollars for free, and you bitched about it. I think everything Sturgill has released so far is gold and I can listen to his albums beginning to end. The guy deserves every bit of recognition he gets. It just pisses me off we have a good guy coming up in the ranks and people nit pick dumb stuff. Go make your own music then.

I live only about 20 minutes from where Sturgill is from, I am a fellow eastern Kentuckian from just over the county line. Hoping to get in contact with him so we can discuss him performing at a friend’s restaurant/bar with another local outlaw soon. Would be great to have a homecoming, we are sure proud of him here!!

The amount of buzz Sturgill Simpson is generating right now is moving into the realm of the mind-boggling and bizarre. Blogs are buzzing about him, a rock star is hanging out backstage at his New York show, Hollywood celebrities are tweeting about him, and so on. Every day his name pops up somewhere unexpected.

I have the feeling that for many people listening to “Metamodern,” it’s the first modern country album they’ve ever listened to, and possibly the only country music they’ve listened to outside of Johnny Cash or another token exception. I would also bet that this is the first time some people have considered the possibility that modern country music doesn’t automatically suck, or have even been exposed to the concept that independent country music exists. (And by the way, I’m not saying the perception that all current mainstream country music sucks is accurate, but obviously artists like Zac Brown Band or whomever- insert your own token mainstream favorite here- don’t resonate with non-mainstream radio listening folks the way Sturgill does.)

So obviously the question becomes, is there a way to use Sturgill Simpson’s current success as an opportunity to promote other independent country artists? At the very least we now have real evidence that people in the broader music-listening world, including those who don’t typically consider themselves country fans, are willing to listen to real country music as long as it’s high quality, creative, and fresh. I think that’s a huge win in and of itself.

Trigger- I hate to bother with even making a suggestion, ’cause you’re always five steps ahead of the curve anyway, but have you considered publishing an article along the lines of “Ten Artists to Check Out if You Like Sturgill Simpson,” or something like that? I’d guess people are gonna be taking to Google to search for that kind of info.

I have been shying away from lists here lately. Last year I was publishing lists like that all the time and they were excellent for spreading awareness about certain artists. Then much bigger periodicals caught on, and have since used the forum for scene baiting. There’s one such article, or actually a couple of articles recently published in “LA Weekly” that do this. All the fans of these bands ooh and aah because their favorites are mentioned in something that looks like a big periodical, and it causes a bunch of traffic for the rag. But in the end, very few people are learning about anything, they’re just pandering to the fans that already know about those artists. This isn’t journalism. Aside from my “10 Badass” series (which I also mothballed for a while because of these concerns), or my Best Of lists, I’ll leave that inferior business to Buzzfeed unless a truly original perspective on the list idea comes to me.

As far as what Sturgill might do for other artists, this is one of the tragedies of Sturgill being summarily ignored by underground roots and country music early in his career. He was never cool in the “scene”, and so there’s really none of those relationships with other bands that may elevate their stature through Sturgill’s rising star. Maybe Th’ Legendary Shack shakers, but aside from a small reunion tour, they’re not even really around anymore. The artists that are going to be helped by Sturgill are ones that are already successful like Jason Isbell. That is who people are going to find when they look for Sturgill alternatives.

I don’t want to characterize it like he was completely ignored by the underground. There were some underground fans that were in to Sunday Valley. But unlike some other artists who have other bands or artists that are closely associated with them, Sturgill was sort of a lone wolf.

What you have to understand about Sturgill is that he’s uncool, introverted, and has motivational issues. All of these traditionally would be big marks against someone who wants to be big in music. And they are marks against Sturgill. It’s just that his music is so powerful, it overrides those issues.

The biggest concern every Sturgill fan should have is that he could quit in a minute, because he doesn’t need or want the attention. He is a true anti-star.

Fair enough. Buzzfeed truly does suck, and sometimes it seems like that’s what the entire internet is turning into: one big, hype-mongering clickhole.

Anyway, it’s nice to think that more people might be paying attention to Sturgill and Jason Isbell moving forward, at least. My hope is that Sturgill is setting a precedent to show that it’s possible for a country artist to be completely successful without the Music Row machine, and that others can ultimately follow in his footsteps. I just want the broader music world to recognize the fact that independent country music is a thing.

Man, Sturgill and the boys certainly did cook on Letterman. And it just blows my mind that it was only nine months ago that I saw this exact same band in Hill Country BBQ in DC. I remember asking the bass player whether they had copies of the Sunday Valley album for sale. It was a no cover (!) show and maybe a few of the hundred or so people there had ever heard of him. They were just there to hear some music on a Wednesday and it just so happened that this dude Sturgill Simpson was playing there for no cover.

Next month he’s headlining at the legendary Birchmere in Alexandria, VA (capacity 500). That’s big time for an independent roots music artist. I’m going to see Dave and Phil Alvin there tonight. You can bet your ass I’m going to pick up a ticket for the Sturgill show in August.

Sturgill’s two albums are the ones getting almost all of the play in my truck right now, out of roughly 300 albums on my flash drive. “Life of Sin” is basically what I listen to on the way to work to get revved up to face the day at this point.

He positively KILLED it on Letterman, the whole band did, that was badass for a TV late-night TV performance (they usually suck since they’re kind of wedged in on the show’s and the acoustics aren’t usually great).

I’m not a Letterman fan, but I love that he just keeps bringing REAL musical talent to New York and putting a spotlight on them for a night. Every time I hear that he’s got something like this set up, I DVR it.

I have the Sunday Valley cd “To The The Wind And On To Heaven”. I bought it when they were playing around here and selling them. It’s my favorite of the 3 albums Sturgill has released. I would be more than happy to make anyone a copy.

Hey Phil, if there is any chance you can send a copy of the album to me, I would greatly appreciate. I have just been getting into Sturgill, and just found out about Sunday Valley. Thanks! salsashark at g mail dotcom

I’m not sure if you saw my last post or not, but I would still love to have a copy of To the Wind and On to Heaven if you can make or send me one. I would really appreciate it. Thanks. jscherer06 at gmail dotcom

I just checked the 9:30 Club’s website and the 2/13 Sturgill Simpson show is sold out. So, he has just sold out a 1,200 capacity venue in DC two months before the night of the show. Glad I didn’t procrastinate on this one!

I recently saw Sturgill perform in Columbus, OH. It was an exceptional show. I was turned onto his music about a year ago by one of my co-workers and have listened through Metamodern Sounds and High Top dozens of times. One of the things I admire about his style is that he does brilliant cover songs (interpretations, if you will). His live performance of The Promise made me appreciate that song far more than I ever did whilst listening to the CD.

He performed a song that I believe is a cover but I do not know the title of the song or the original performer. It had the lyric “I’m going back to the mountain” in the first and last verse and had a very dramatic buildup. I have been trying to find this song since the show and I can find no leads. I am fairly certain it is not on either of his two albums. It may be a song he did with Happy Valley, or it may be a cover of an older song.